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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29147994">The Plague Witch</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBloodsuckerProxy/pseuds/TheBloodsuckerProxy'>TheBloodsuckerProxy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sister Claire (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 08:54:27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,024</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29147994</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBloodsuckerProxy/pseuds/TheBloodsuckerProxy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A nun from the Helsing Abbey encounters an unusual witch</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Plague Witch</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I first wrote this back in 2016, and now that I'm finally on AO3 I thought I'd share it here</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Report.” barks Sister Hoshiko.</p><p>“Oh gods….”</p><p>“It’s horrible!”</p><p>“There’s blood everywhere!”</p><p>The three girls she brought with her are only novices, not ready for this sort of work yet. It shows.</p><p>“They’ll have to learn sooner or later,” Mother Abraham had said.</p><p>“Report!” she says again, louder. More insistent. She hears quick footsteps followed by the sound of someone retching into the nearby bushes.</p><p>“Th-there doesn’t appear to be any survivors.” It’s the youngest; Anne, who speaks now. “There are a lot of…” She pauses, fighting the urge to join her companion in the bushes “bodies in front of the inn, but other than that nothing appears to be out of place. It’s definitely plague, Sister Hoshiko.” The same plague they’ve been tracking for the past week, but it’s never caused death on this scale before. Dozens upon dozens of lives snuffed out, the entire village most likely. This can only be the work of a witch.</p><p>“Remain here,” she says “and keep your masks on. I will go ahead”. The novices obey without question. Under different circumstances she might enjoy not being talked back to, but her current circumstances are grim. She may not be able to see, but she can smell death all around her. As she slowly makes her way through the village, her senses tell her the story. The buzzing of flies tells her where the bodies lie. The sickly, coppery smell of blood fills her nose, nearly overwhelming her. Far behind her she hears one of her novices sob. She reaches the edge of the village, but the scent of blood still hangs in the air. It has to be the witch. Hoshiko follows the scent out of the village and away from the road. She’s nearly reached the top of a hill overlooking the village when she hears it: a sharp inhale, not three feet from where she stands. Careless. She let her mind wander. Her hand rushes to her sword, ready to draw at the instant of an attack when she hears something she wasn’t expecting.</p><p>“You’re here to kill me, aren’t you?”</p><p>It’s been a long time since Sister Hoshiko has hesitated to carry out her duties but the voice she hears gives her pause. Her target is only a girl barely out of her teens by the sound of it. And something else in her voice—it’s stifled and wet. She’s been crying.</p><p>“I didn’t mean to do it.”</p><p>“Tell me what happened” Hoshiko says, loosening her grip on her sword.</p><p>“I make people sick. I can’t help it. I tried to keep it in, really I did! But after my parents got sick people started to talk. They… they said I was a murderer! A monster!” The girl has to stop herself for a moment, lest she lose what little composure she has. “I ran away. I tried to stay away from people. I tried so hard! I never stayed anywhere more than a few hours, but people still kept getting sick. When I got here I was so tired and the innkeeper, she was so nice to me. I thought if I only stayed the one night that maybe it would be different. That maybe no one would get sick.”</p><p>“But they did.”</p><p>“The villagers wouldn’t let me leave. I told them if I stayed more people would get sick. I told them I couldn’t control it. They didn’t believe me!” Another pause. Another sharp intake of breath. “They were all yelling at me. Telling me to fix what I’d done, but I didn’t know how! The innkeeper, she tried to protect me. I could still hear them arguing outside and then I heard one man say that they should get rid of me and I just got so scared. They wanted to kill me! I tried to tell them it wasn’t my fault, but they still weren’t listening!” The girl’s words sound different now. Coarse and hot like the embers of a fire. Rage. “It wasn’t right. I didn’t do anything wrong! It wasn’t fair!” She stops to calm herself again. “I was so angry. I screamed at them to leave me alone and then they all…all….”</p><p>“They got sick” It’s not a question.</p><p>“It never happened so fast before. One second they were alive and the next… there was so much blood. It was coming out of their mouths and noses and I-I panicked. I tried to get help but everyone else was dying too. I didn’t mean to do it. I didn’t. I…” The young witch tries to stifle a sob, fails. Sister Hoshiko doesn’t say anything. She lets the girl weep. Finally, when her tears are spent she speaks again. “It’s a nice night.”</p><p>“I can’t see it.” And she can’t but she can feel the girl’s eyes on her. On the bandages that cover her ruined eyes.</p><p>“I’m sorry.”</p><p>“Don’t be.”</p><p>“I just wish you could see them, the stars.” A different sort of sadness fills the girl’s voice now. “My mom, she used to tell me that the future was written in the stars, and it was always changing because they’re always moving. And you could pick any one of them and follow it and you would find your destiny. She loved the stars, my mom. She even named me after them.” Another pause that seems to last an eternity. Hoshiko can feel the coolness of the grass under her feet. She feels the warm breeze on her face as it carries the last of the day’s heat through the trees. It is a nice night. Suddenly, Hoshiko is caught by surprise again by the young witch.</p><p>“I think I’m ready,” she says numbly. “Just… just make it quick. Please”</p><p>Slowly, still hesitant, Sister Hoshiko draws her sword and moves behind the young witch.</p><p>“You said your mother named you for the stars. What name did she give you?”</p><p>Silence. Resigned, she raises the blade and hears the girl draw her final breath. Then quietly, in a voice that sounds so small and so scared:</p><p>“Stella. My name is Stella.”</p><p>Sister Hoshiko brings the blade down.</p>
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